A divorced dad chasing younger women. His teenage son chasing older women. That is the engine of 40 y 20, and it ran for 10 years.
The Mexican comedy series, created by Gustavo Loza for Blim, first aired on April 1, 2016. Its final episode aired on April 3, 2026. In between: 14 seasons and 172 episodes.
Paco, Fran, and a Symmetry That Holds
The setup is in the title. Paco — Francisco Antonio, played by Jorge Van Rankin — is a divorced man facing his 40s. His son Fran, played by Mauricio Garza, is a teenager facing adolescence. Paco likes younger women. Fran likes older women.
Michelle Rodríguez plays Refugio Lorenza Antonia “Toña.” The cast also includes Mónica Huarte and Verónica Jaspeado. The series centers on a fun, dysfunctional family of divorce.
Rocío Is the Pressure Valve
Rocío is Paco’s ex and Fran’s mother. She resents every step both of them take.
That gives the father-son comedy a third point of view. The show’s description puts her resentment alongside the entanglements Paco and Fran create, and it does not soften it.
The result reads less like a battle of the sexes and more like a family that never finished arguing.
Blim Launched It. Canal 5 Inherited It.
40 y 20 started on Blim. The series was produced by Gustavo Loza for the network. By its twelfth season, it had moved. That season premiered on April 1, 2025, on Canal 5. The eleventh season had premiered earlier, on October 3, 2024.
A series that changes networks in its twelfth year has proven something. Blim launched it. Canal 5 inherited it.
- Title: 40 y 20
- Created by: Gustavo Loza
- Original network: Blim
- Later network: Canal 5, from season 12
- First episode: April 1, 2016
- Final episode: April 3, 2026
- Seasons: 14
- Episodes: 172
- Genre: Comedy
- Lead cast: Jorge Van Rankin, Mauricio Garza, Michelle Rodríguez, Mónica Huarte, Verónica Jaspeado
- Published score: 8.1/10, from 1539 votes on TMDB
| Season | Premiere | Network |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | April 1, 2016 | Blim |
| 11 | October 3, 2024 | Blim |
| 12 | April 1, 2025 | Canal 5 |
| 14, final | — | Canal 5 |
What 14 Seasons Actually Cost
Here is the thing about a long-running sitcom. The first season is a bet. The fourteenth is an obligation. 40 y 20 made it to the far side of that curve.
The premise is durable because it is structural, not topical. It does not depend on a trend or a guest star. It depends on two people who cannot stop being who they are.
That is also the limit. A premise this clean does not grow. It repeats. By the time 40 y 20 reached Canal 5, it was still telling the same story it told in 2016, with the same symmetry, the same friction, the same Rocío.
Fourteen seasons is a lot of runway for one idea. The move to Canal 5 came in season 12, which premiered on April 1, 2025. A new network is not a new show.
That is not a failure. It is a choice. 40 y 20 chose consistency over evolution, and for a comedy about two people who refuse to change, that is at least honest.
The Cast Carries the Repetition
Van Rankin plays Paco as a man who has not yet admitted what his forties mean. Garza plays Fran as a kid who thinks he has already figured it out. Rodríguez, Huarte and Jaspeado round out the cast.
The comedy is broad, but it is not lazy. Paco’s taste in younger women is a character flaw the series examines.
That restraint separates 40 y 20 from the average divorced-dad sitcom.
A Reliable Show, Not a Landmark
40 y 20 is a comedy that knew what it was from the first episode. Paco and Fran are a matched pair — one running from his age, one running toward it. Rocío gives it a spine. The cast gives it a pulse.
It is not a show that will surprise you.
The published score is 8.1/10, drawn from 1539 votes on TMDB. That number is fair. 40 y 20 is not a landmark of Mexican television. It is a reliable one, and reliability across 172 episodes is its own kind of achievement.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.